Monday, November 23, 2015

Atheists, seculars, and anti-Christian Jews can try to take the Christ out of Christmas, but they will always fail. And since they're going to try, we should simply stop recognizing their parasitical celebration of the hollowed-out, lifeless "festival of lights" with which they wish to replace it.

Cinemas should ban all Christmas adverts after refusing to screen a commercial featuring the Lord's Prayer because of its religious content, the Church of England has said.

The Church is threatening to take legal action against Digital Cinema Media (DCM), which handles adverts for cinema giants Odeon, Vue and Cineworld, after it barred an advert featuring the Archbishop of Canterbury encouraging prayer.

DCM told the Church the advert risked “upsetting or offending audiences” and pointed to its policy document barring commercials that advertised “any religion, faith or equivalent systems of belief” or “any part” of any such religion or faith.

Rev Arun Arora, the Church of England’s director of communications, told the Telegraph: “If they want to be consistent on not carrying any ads that have any connection with religious belief, I'd like them to cancel all ads linked to Christmas as a Christian festival.

“If they'd like to apply it consistently, ban every ad that mentions Christmas.”

What most Christians haven't realized, much less accepted, yet is that religious multiculturalism doesn't work any better than the ethnic version. Freedom of religion only works so long as there is a tolerant religion that is sufficiently dominant; it ceases to function as soon as the minority religions become influential enough to challenge its cultural dominance and impose their own, less tolerant perspective.

Since the First Amendment has been dishonestly interpreted in a broadly expansive manner that does little more than attack Christianity, it is now time for Christians to cease respecting the concept of freedom of religion and become every bit as intolerant of other religions and anti-religious philosophies as those religions are of Christianity.

In this regard, perhaps a list should be created of all corporations that refuse to respect the Christian aspect of Christmas, so that Christians can refuse to do business with them during the Christmas season.

I agree completely. Time to put Christ back into Christmas. Businesses pandering to the special "season" without acknowledging, or actively distancing themselves from what makes the season special don't deserve our patronage.

If we wish to engage in useless pseudo-dialectic. That's a version of the "see, that just proves" strategy so beloved of moderates and other intellectual eunuchs whose aim is victory through being seen as the good guy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MISTER CARRERA - It's Christmas in Balboa, but the grinch-hearted Tauran Union has other ideas. Their carrier Laicite sits just outside Balboa's territorial waters, threatening to shoot down Santa Claus if he approaches Balboan airspace. The only thing that can save Christmas is a Meg class SSK armed with supercavitating nuclear torpedoes.

A SONG OF ICE CREAM AND PICKLES AND EGGNOG - It's Christmas Eve, and Grod the Orc is troubled by three apparitions who implore him to be nicer to people, especially the younger, fatter and more gender-fluid recruits in the Royal Army. Unfortunately for the trio of spectres, they're about to find out that being ghosts doesn't mean Grod can't kill them... again and again.

FIVE GOLD RINGS - Captain Partridge of the frigate HMS Resurgent is engaged in anti-piracy patrol duties in the Barnard's Star system. While at dock for Christmas festivities, Resurgent is boarded and its skeleton crew taken hostage by German space terrorists. Only Captain Partridge, who had fortuitously passed out on the toilet after a Baileys and chocolate liqueurs binge, remains on board and uncaught by the terrorists. "Ho, ho, ho!", said Captain Partridge. "I've got a ruddy machinegun!"

I honestly do not understand the counter argument that we should purposely not emulate the best, because then we might be like them. It doesn't make sense.

It's not supposed to make sense. It's just supposed to be another club that Marxists can beat Whitey over the head with.

It's the very nonsensical nature of the tactic that makes it so effective. "You're racist because you avoid having people from other cultures enter your space! You're racist because you hate foreign culture!" soon becomes "You're culturally appropriating an oppressed culture's activities and behavior! You're an insensitive racist!" Like the Stalin-era peasant deliberately forced to swallow obvious lies and praise them as golden, it's a tactic meant to demoralize a people and instill in them a feeling of learned helplessness.

And of course, "oppressed" peoples are free to "appropriate" as much of Whitey Culture and technology as they want, because slavery, or something like that.

Hanukkah only predates the Pope creating Christmas out of thin air by roughly 1200 years or so. And both have exactly the same amoint of biblical command for their observance. Both festivals are humans deciding to try to worship God how they want to rather than how He commands them to. Slightly rebellious, that.

I believe that whites should fight cultural appropriation. Too many whites get their panties in a twist when blacks change school names from e.g. "Thomas Jefferson High School" to "Malcolm X High School", or the "Redskins" are forced to change their name to the "Warriors", or "Madison Street" becomes "Martin Luther King Blvd".

In effect, minorities treat tokens of their race, language, culture and history as "trademarks" or "brands" to be imposed on (or removed from) public use. The latter is called "cultural appropriation".

Let us follow suit with our white "brands".

When a street is infested with violent minorities and develops a reputation for crime, violence and immorality, empower white people to remove its white name.

When "George Washington High School" goes black, goes violent and gets stupid, empower white people to remove Washington's name from the school.

When the formerly white towns of "Athens" or "Rome" or "Springfield" become miserable Mexican ghettos, empower the white community to force a name change to "Pancho Villa", or "Teotihuacan" or any other clearly Mexican name.

When a minority of Harvard students and faculty are white Christians let the white nation remove "[John] Harvard" from its name.

Try this experiment: when you sing a Christmas carol, do you feel love towards a pagan deity, or the Lord Jesus? Does paganism even enter your thoughts when you're at church on Christmas eve (or whenever you do your Christmas service)?

O Holy Night is thick with great theology. These lines explain the entire raison d'etre for Christmas.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Christmas is a reminder that it wasn't always like this. Grace wasn't always available to us gentiles. And even to Jews, keeping the Law was taxing work. Spirit was given with measure, and could be taken away, even from King David.

Christmas reminds of that moment when the Word of God, with all majesty and glory, condescended for us an became a helpless little baby. Christmas is what made Easter possible.

Christmas should keep our minds, collectively, in that moment those lines speak of. Midday - Easter - had not come yet. But a new and glorious morn had.

"I can think of those things ANY day, I don't need a holiday appropriated from pagans for that!"-every assburger ever

Good for you. However, if you go further than that, Paul has some words for you.

Rom 14:5 One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind.Rom 14:6 He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. He also who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; while he who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.(...)Rom 14:10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;

VDIn this regard, perhaps a list should be created of all corporations that refuse to respect the Christian aspect of Christmas, so that Christians can refuse to do business with them during the Christmas season.

as with the diversity of thought concerning queer marriage ... isn't this pretty much all of them?

i mean, it'd be a much smaller list if you were counting the ones that honored the holiday properly.

14. She terrorized.For all abusers, fear is a powerful means of control of the victim, and your narcissistic mother used it ruthlessly to train you. Narcissists teach you to beware their wrath even when they aren't present. The only alternative is constant placation. If you give her everything she wants all the time, you might be spared. If you don't, the punishments will come. Even adult children of narcissists still feel that carefully inculcated fear. Your narcissistic mother can turn it on with a silence or a look that tells the child in you she's thinking about how she's going to get even.

Not all narcissists abuse physically, but most do, often in subtle, deniable ways. It allows them to vent their rage at your failure to be the solution to their internal havoc and simultaneously to teach you to fear them. You may not have been beaten, but you were almost certainly left to endure physical pain when a normal mother wouldhave made an effort to relieve your misery. This deniable form of battery allows her to store up her rage and dole out the punishment at a later time when she's worked out an airtight rationale for her abuse, so she never risks exposure. You were left hungry because "you eat too much." (Someone asked her if she was pregnant. She isn't). You always went to school with stomach flu because "you don't have a fever. You're just trying to get out of school." (She resents having to take care of you. You have a lot of nerve getting sick and adding to her burdens.) She refuses to look at your bloody heels and instead the shoes that wore those blisters on your heels are put back on your feet and you're sent to the store in them because "You wanted those shoes. Now you can wear them." (You said the ones she wanted to get you were ugly. She liked them because they were just like what she wore 30 years ago). The dentist was told not to give you Novocaine when he drilled your tooth because "he has to learn to take better care of his teeth." (She has to pay for a filling and she's furious at having to spend money on you.)

Narcissistic mothers also abuse by loosing others on you or by failing to protect you when a normal mother would have. Sometimes the narcissist's golden child will be encouraged to abuse the scapegoat. Narcissists also abuse by exposing you to violence. If one of your siblings got beaten, she made sure you saw. She effortlessly put the fear of Mom into you, without raising a hand.

I don't know. Most Jews I know don't really care about Christmas either way. And lots of Jews actually celebrate Christmas. I recall reading that The Frank family celebrated Christmas while hiding from the Nazis.

Now if you gents could only find some campus SJW thought police to come out against Christmas. Maybe you could spam their Twitter feeds with "Merry Christmas" till they come up with the genius idea of banning Christmas.

"Since the First Amendment has been dishonestly interpreted in a broadly expansive manner that does little more than attack Christianity"

While I agree that Christmas has been secularized (often with the ironic help of Christians), I cringe every time I see someone pretend they are some sort of Constitutional scholar when they can't begin to intelligently address the Constitutionsl issues the claim to understand.

Christmas is Natal in Indonesian, borrowed word from Portuguese I think. For some Of my Muslim neighbours, it's forbidden to wish me a Happy 'Natal'. It is okay for me to wish them happy Eid dul Ftri, but not okay for them to reciprocate. So that is one thing Atheists have in common with Muslims.

Even as the largest muslim population, Christmas is one big commercial season in Indonesia. The malls and shopping centre are decorated with fake wintery symbols with "Jinggle bells" as their background music. In tropical melting heat Indonesia! No Christ though.

I don't know. Most Jews I know don't really care about Christmas either way. And lots of Jews actually celebrate Christmas. I recall reading that The Frank family celebrated Christmas while hiding from the Nazis.

It seems like you don't remember the beginning of the Millennium when it was exclusively Jews who were bitching. Or perhaps you are too young to have paid attention, I don't know. But Muslims and Atheists are just a new twist to this.

I added Toys R Us to my personal boycott years ago when they wouldn't fire Whoopi "Rape Rape" Goldberg from being spokesman. She defended a convicted and admitted child molester because he's an "artist" then put her on the cover of their catalog for special needs kids while she also advocates for aborting Down Syndrome kids.

Plus Target for booting the Salvation Army bell ringers, and Starbucks for a number of things.

It's always interesting to ask those saying Christmas is pagan what piece of historical evidence they have for showing pagans celebrating a holiday on the 25th before Hippolytus' mention of the date around 200 AD in his commentary on Daniel (his reasoning - not taking over a pagan holiday but he thinks Jesus was conceived on Passover - nothing wrong with the church of the true God "conquering" pagan holidays though).

J.P. Holding's good short ebooks, "Christmas is Pagan and other Myths" and "Easter is Pagan and other Fables" have nailed these memes in the coffin (Easter's differing calendar scheme with Passover does have anti-Jewish roots, however).

Interestingly too, Hanukkah, while post-OT, is mentioned in the NT (John 10:22-23). So we also know Jesus was good with "man-made" holidays.

I'll also add the evidence for his actual birth is indeterminate, but we may have slight positive evidence for it during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Interestingly, if this were so, then it increases the probability we know what time of year he will return, but not the year (Feast of Trumpets).

Finally, all this to say is that there is nothing wrong with Jewish and Gentile believers to celebrate his birth on either day, or not at all.

The trouble is, He was born during Sukkot, in the Fall, and was never really "in" 'christmas' to begin with.

I have no problem with people trying to "take back" their traditions. But if they try to do so in His Name, and expect His support, it would be helpful to have Him, His Scripture, and the facts on their side.

As you know, VD, it is an SJW tactic to argue in defiance of the Truth. This one is thus a MUCH harder Whopper to sell.

To put it in military terms, it's a bit like sacrificing your troops for a bit of low terrain of no strategic importance to the Commander. But, hey, if it makes some "feel better" -- isn't that what matters?

I'd argue it's better to admit that it's not about "His birth" (since He and His earthly family almost certainly never celebrated it as such anyway) and more about something symbolic, than real. And then, learn to keep the Feasts YHVH said were "His" (and, no, NOT 'jewish' per se) and commanded we keep "forever...throughout your generations...in all your dwelling places," etc.

Chick-fil-a celebrates Sundays off. Not to be glib, but there's a reason why kids eat free on Tyr's Day at IKEA. If one is looking for a war against the faithless, you could do a lot worse than a company that celebrates Woden's Day ("Wow Wednesday's"): http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/img/local_store_info/Tampa/Nov25_Tampa_Wow.gif

No, they're not Christians. But I'd rather have these Pagans around than the atheists (or agnostics if that's what they're going by now).

If all the Starbucks and Targets and Dicks of the world were replaced with IKEAs, that would be more of a win for our side than theirs.

It's a store that on their corporate homepage celebrates the shitty soil of Smaland, and the hard grueling ways, and the cold dark bleakness of Sweden.

I'd be surprised if new employees didn't have to recite the Creed of Iron.

"While I agree that Christmas has been secularized (often with the ironic help of Christians), I cringe every time I see someone pretend they are some sort of Constitutional scholar when they can't begin to intelligently address the Constitutionsl issues the claim to understand."

Well, I am a freaking Constitutional lawyer with a sheepskin on my wall to prove it, catiff, and I can confirm without doubt that the First Amendment interpretation banning Congress from establishing religion or hindering its free exercise is being outrageously abused and perverted by the High Court rulings, under the doctrine of incorporation, banning prayer in school, crosses on war memorials for the dead, and displays of the Ten Commandments in courthouses.

Vox Day is correct. I can testify as an expert. If you would like me to look up the cites for the specific cases and quote the dissenting opinions, I can, but you would have to pay my legal fees.

Or you could argue the facts and evidence instead of assuming an air of unearned expertise. Tell me by what stretch of logic the wording of the First Amendment does not protect Nuns running a private charity and purchasing private health insurance for their employees being forced to buy birth control, which Catholic theology rejects as an abomination, is permitted under the First Amendment, but a school that receives public funds being forbidden entertain a volunteer youth club with a Christian theme is not permitted?

Use the analysis in Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962) to explain whether the nexus between state influence and the promotion of religion is present or absent in each case.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MISTER CARRERA - It's Christmas in Balboa, but the grinch-hearted Tauran Union has other ideas. Their carrier Laicite sits just outside Balboa's territorial waters, threatening to shoot down Santa Claus if he approaches Balboan airspace. The only thing that can save Christmas is a Meg class SSK armed with supercavitating nuclear torpedoes.

Can the good colonel make this happen if we ask very nicely? No crucifixions though, that's the other holiday.

Something that has sadly died away in recent years is the Christmas pop song.

Back in the 70's and 80's, recording artists like Slade, Wizzard, the Pogues, David Bowie, Queen, Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen released some classic Christmas tunes that are still played on radio to this day.

Recent efforts have been sparse. The Darkness tried bringing the Christmas glam rock hit back with "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)", but that was 10 years ago. Coldplay had a boring, lazy effort with "Christmas Lights" a couple of years ago.

But there's been nothing of late as insanely infectious as Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child / O My Lord". Or as raw and brilliant as Shane MacGowan and Kirsty McColl calling each other sluts and faggots in "Fairytale of New York".

It's time the younger generation stepped up their game. I would listen to a Babymetal Christmas album.

"I don't know. Most Jews I know don't really care about Christmas either way. And lots of Jews actually celebrate Christmas. I recall reading that The Frank family celebrated Christmas while hiding from the Nazis.

It seems like you don't remember the beginning of the Millennium when it was exclusively Jews who were bitching. Or perhaps you are too young to have paid attention, I don't know. But Muslims and Atheists are just a new twist to this."

If those Jews were SJW type Jews, or Tikun Olam type Jews, then there is very little Jewish abouth them beyond their ancestry, and they weren't acting as Jews.

"[I]t is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. . . . Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? That the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?

Think of the government's use of taxes to subsidize entities within the private sphere, on which any individual might disagree. Planned Parenthood, NPR, Bailing out GM, etc. Or, by force, cause one to purchase, say, insurance which one desires not. If the 1st covers religion by direct mention, why does it not, by implied meaning of restraint, cover others through the 10th, many being numerous and unenumerated?

Now I see Beiber, Ariana Grande, and the "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" may be assaulting my ears this year as well. The most wonderful time of the year indeed. I bought a Pentatonix Christmas CD for the car. Driving/radio problem solved.

Ya know, when we I see all those Nativity scenes on peoples lawns, I tell my kids that they should thank G-d they're Jewish and how proud they should be. I mean after all, those are Jews people are putting out on their lawns for everyone to see. What's not to love?

Elocutioner - Wham's Last Christmas is especially offensive if you watch the video and realise George Michael invited a fit young lass to his log cabin just so he could watch her becoming increasingly upset and confused as nothing happened.

I don't know. Most Jews I know don't really care about Christmas either way.

They care much more than you realize. More importantly, some who have considerable influence through the media and other organizations care a whole lot. Maybe more importantly than that, many Christian leaders these days care a whole lot about Jewish feelings, so they're only too happy to downplay anything that might cause them discomfort.

While I understand the sentiment here I would like to present a possible alternative view --

I am troubled (as I am sure others are as well) by the way that Christmas has been corrupted by commercialism -- so the less Christmas is involved with commercialism the better off Christmas is IMHO...

Whatever the history of celebrating Christmas -- the point is to celebrate Christ and Christ's teachings as the truest path to salvation. What it has become today is something much much less, something that actually promotes traits directly contrary to the teachings of Christ... You think that business is with Christ because they use the term "Christmas" instead of "Holiday" -- that's really superficial --- lets see that store adopt the teachings of Christ every day and then I will believe them to be in Christ.

So by all means.. take Christmas back, but when you do ... give it back to Christ, not to the stores that want to use it to make more money.

OT but I had to ask Vox. Why do you think saying 'The train is fine' is such as awesome comeback? I've seen the Onion clip, and in it the person with Aspbergers says the train is fine. Yet somehow you keep claiming the people who ask you why you suddenly interjected that line into a discussion are the autisitc ones. How does that make sense?

"[Christmas] It's still an invention/syncretism/perversion of the Catholic Church, which means no protestant should accept it."

Well, I hate to say it, boyo, but Protestantism is also an invention/syncretism/perversion of the Catholic Church. What religion do you think Martin Luther or Henry VIII was born and raised in?

Or are you one of those 'Protestants' who thinks Christians are obligated to follow the Jewish holidays? Are you celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles this year? What about the Feast of Trumpets?

Come to think of it, Monogamy is a Catholic invention/syncretism/perversion, is it not? For nowhere in the Bible does it explicitly say that a man should have but one wife, and there are many holy patriarchs and kings who had many.

Is not the exchange of wedding rings a pagan custom?

In fact, is not the only thing utterly clear in scripture is Jesus condemnation of divorce and remarriage?

Is not the ONLY think which is not Catholic the institution of treason against one's wife, which you Protestants call divorce, and which you and you alone reintroduced into Western civilization, beginning the disintegration that lead step by step, to no-fault divorce, contraception, the sexual revolution, and culminating in sodomy marriage? Is that not the invention/syncretism/perversion you and yours introduced?

Christmas pop? I'll recommend Chris Isaak. Isaak's Christmas album isn't very traditional, but Brightest Star and Last Month of the Year definitely puts the Christ in Christmas. And for those MRAs who want a little dose of divorce-rape angst, there's Christmas on TV. Great bit of storytelling in a song. Sets you up then pulls the rug out. And Got To Be Good is a great song if your wife looks good in candy cane colored lingerie and a Santa's Little Helper hat.

For the assburgers who wag their fingers at Christians celebrating the Incarnation of Christ being an appropriation of a pagan holiday, need I remind you that Christ Himself celebrated his own birth when he instituted the Lord's Supper. What do you think the bread is?

You want to take Christmas back? Quit buying a bunch of useless crap for your kids. Tell them the true story of St. Nicholas, that he defended the Christ child by using Arius' face as a punching bag. And that the greatest gift they could ever receive is the free gift of salvation through the Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus.

... I'd argue it's better to admit that it's not about "His birth" (since He and His earthly family almost certainly never celebrated it as such anyway) and more about something symbolic, than real. And then, learn to keep the Feasts YHVH said were "His" (and, no, NOT 'jewish' per se) and commanded we keep "forever...throughout your generations...in all your dwelling places," etc.

Using your logic, anyone born on February 29 is screwed out of a birthday celebration 3 years out of 4. Sometimes 'good enough' is good enough.

Ok, it's official.If some of you compile lists of naughty (ABC) and nice (CB (Christian Businesses) and send it to me i will put it on the front page of my blog feom as soon as i compile it well into January. I am a bit swamped being in Brazil right now so if any VFM wants to volunteer to give me the cleaned up list that will help a lot. My details are at my blog: www.gfilotto.com

I'd argue it's better to admit that it's not about "His birth" (since He and His earthly family almost certainly never celebrated it as such anyway) and more about something symbolic

The Catholic church wins on this with the celebration of Advent... that looks forward to Christ's 2nd Coming while remembering His first. Since we only get to sing Christmas music in church for the 2 weeks of Christmas, Advent is filled with music about his promised arrival/return.

I assume the Naughty list includes all use of Xmas? I know it offends me

This offends my dad, too. Why, I do not know. It is a perfectly legitimate abbreviation for Christmas. The X is the Greek chi which is part of the greek word Christ. Ironically enough, the fish symbol used by the early church that christians like to post on their cars had the double meaning of "Fisher of men" and "Christ" due to its similarity to chi.

In fact, on many priestly stoles, you may find a chi-rho symbol of an x on a p with the p-symbol being elongated into a shepherd staff. Such beautiful imagery to be found.

True. Now: how many of the people who say "X-mas" are referencing that, and how many are using it because they prefer a Christ-free holiday and are hoping for the Futurama outcome where people have forgotten the original meaning entirely?

I'm not protestamt either. And yes I did keep both feasts. And will again next year. And I think Paul covered divorce quite well when he said it was adultery. So no, that wasn't a Catholic invention, kust codification.

An excellent point. I wasnanpart if the last generation to actually celebrate Christmas in school. We sang loudly about "Long lay the world in sin and terror pinning till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. . .Fall on your knees! Hear the angel voices! Oh night divine! Oh night wrhen Christ was born."

It didn't lead to my salvation but it gave me an anchor to the goodness of God.

As I said, I grew up during the last generation to celebrate Christian culture and before we understood how ourb"tolerant" brand of Christianity would force us to surrender our rightful social dominance.

We watched our faith be driven from the Marketplace and civic square and we let it happen.

"If those Jews were SJW type Jews, or Tikun Olam type Jews, then there is very little Jewish abouth them beyond their ancestry, and they weren't acting as Jews."

Oh, they were acting as Jews alright - ethnic supremacy and meddling in the affairs of the other is the essence of Jewry, not a nationalist religion."

Well, if being the Chosen People means ethnic supremacy, then I guess so. But I don't recall learning anywhere that Jews are suppose to meddle in other people affairs, beyond teaching and attempting to set a good example.

No, not hard to transliterate Koine Greek into English, but do try to do it correctly. I won't give you the correct spelling, but a basic transliteration of the chi (X) is ch. Your last Greek phrase is also way off. The genetive is in there. Google it at least.

This marks two major errors today, thus establisZhing your lack of credibility.

I do hope you were born Jewish, as the NT is quite clear that to keep any of the ritual law you must keep all of it.

As I recall, this one came out in the last couple of years, and I heard it quite a few places. It's not as popular yet, or "a classic" yet, but it is a new Christmas pop song, and very on subject.

For being a secular group, and one with members who would seem to have hard opposition to traditional Christian values (one homosexual member, one openly bisexual), Pentatonix is strongly traditional and very easy on the ear.

Mary, Do You Know makes me cry every time, and is 100% down-your-throat Jesus is God. Their Little Drummer Boy is one of the only versions I can stand, and their Carol of the Bells is excellent too. I'm even enamored of their secular Christmas songs (White Winter Hymnal and Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy).

I also like that they clean up dirty songs when they cover them, and (as an aside) they work with Lindsey Sterling too.

I'm quite willing to keep Pentatonix on the Friends list until they force me to take them off.

@150Even Thomas, the dimmest of the Justices,That phrase alone outs you as a dishonest interlocutor. Thomas is generall acknowledged as the smartest member of the court, certainly well ahead of Sotomayor, Ginsberg, Roberts and Kennedy in both intelligence and knowledge of the law.

@142: so, these hundreds of thousands, nay millions or three or four, of secular types who call themselves Jews, act in concert for the benefit of their in-group, and treat all out-groups (the other, the "goyim") as a lesser form of life, all the while acting as fifth columnists in the nations of these others, to the detriment of these others, are not Jews?

Furthermore, you dishonest, cretinous goon, you actually misrepresent Thomas' position. he actually has expressed his approval, in public, of overturning the incorporation doctrine.Why do you hate blacks so much, you racist fucktard?

First of all. I think your numbers are off. And many secular Jews do not act for the good of the group. Many woudl rather die than be accused of favoring Jews. And the worst thing that can happen to a secular Jews is to be scene associating with a religious Jew. They love Goyim. That's why they marry them so often.

See, they are trying assimilate as quickly as they can. Have you ever scene the statistics on Jewish assimilation, the vanishin Jew etc.? Where's the tribalism in that? It makes me want to cry, not laugh.

Well, I am a freaking Constitutional lawyer with a sheepskin on my wall to prove it, catiff, and I can confirm without doubt that the First Amendment interpretation banning Congress from establishing religion or hindering its free exercise is being outrageously abused and perverted by the High Court rulings, under the doctrine of incorporation, banning prayer in school, crosses on war memorials for the dead, and displays of the Ten Commandments in courthouses.

Could we use the First Amendment to make a case declaring Progressivism (or any Marxist-derived philosophy) a religion? Because it seems that a huge chunk of the State's resources are devoted to the spread of this religion, which would itself seem to go against the First Amendment. Any black-knighting lawyers willing to take on the task of exposing this fact and advocating for the purging of this religion from all public institutions?

"O Holy Night is thick with great theology. These lines explain the entire raison d'etre for Christmas.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Christmas is a reminder that it wasn't always like this. Grace wasn't always available to us gentiles. And even to Jews, keeping the Law was taxing work. Spirit was given with measure, and could be taken away, even from King David.

Christmas reminds of that moment when the Word of God, with all majesty and glory, condescended for us an became a helpless little baby. Christmas is what made Easter possible.

Christmas should keep our minds, collectively, in that moment those lines speak of. Midday - Easter - had not come yet. But a new and glorious morn had."

Preach, brother.

Always looked forward to returning home to sing O Holy Night with the choir at the midnight Christmas Eve service with the church that raised me.

When it counted, in opinions and dissents, Thomasa argued in favor of incorporation....But even more importantly, Thomas has been unable to convince a single other justice sitting on the court with him since being appointed that his view of the incorporation doctrine (that it is illegitimate) is correct. And I suspect this is why he's never voiced such an idea in an opinion or a dissent. It's not that he's radical. It's not that he's dumb. It's a matter of his legal arguments being wholly unconvincing and him knowing it.

All that said, Thomas' unconvincing arguments at least are being made by someone who knows the constitution intimately. Including it's history. However the author of this post who wrote, "Since the First Amendment has been dishonestly interpreted in a broadly expansive manner that does little more than attack Christianity" is a poser who has little to no clue what they are talking about.

It sort of makes one yearn for the days before the internet when published works usually had an editor who knew the subject matter working with the author and who made sure they didn't write something too idiotic.

Practice your own faith, whether it be Christianity, Islam, or Judaism.

"Freedom of religion only works so long as there is a tolerant religion that is sufficiently dominant".

In a word, no.

James Madison applauded the Constitution for its contribution by safeguarding religious freedom for ALL citizens by eliminating the government's voice in ecclesiastical matters, as well as putting those radicals in their place who called for one religion to be exclusive in our society or to monopolize the nation. To Madison, "the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States" was the surest guarantee of "the sacred principle of religious liberty."

John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams is a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and our second President.

"Try this experiment: when you sing a Christmas carol, do you feel love towards a pagan deity, or the Lord Jesus?"

Good idea, that's a pretty revealing test. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen or Hark the Herald Angels or It Came Upon a Midnight Clear give me that Jesus vibe, maybe a little sentimental but sincere. I sure don't think of Constantine or church machinations or pagan rites.

It's good that some Christians warn against paganizing Christmas, I'm ok with that, material glut etc, but with all that's going on nowdays, I don't see God getting too offended by generosity and selflessness at Christmas.

Again, practice your faith whatever it is.If you're a Aztec, feel free to rip the living heaqrt out of your captives atop a mid-town building at midday.If you're a Muslim, rejoice as you behead the infidel and Jew who refuse to submit to Allah.If you're a Nuginian, it's okay to hunt down opponents and consume the various parts of them to gain in their superlative abilities.Hindi are welcome to cast widows onto the funeral pyre.Even devotees of Santeria should round up stray dogs and cats to offer blood sacrifice.

@181 says it's what you should do.Or maybe religious tolerance is only possible when there's not a lot of difference between religions, and the standards of behavior are close enough. And the religions involved all believe at a fundamental in freedom of conscience. You know, like Christianity.The mistake of the founders was thinking that any religion besides Christianity and Buddhism actually had any support for the freedom of conscience that makes freedom of religion possible.

Note that Adams did NOT indicate which religion. Moreover, Adams unfortunately stated, “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.”

“If you're a Aztec, feel free to rip the living heaqrt out of your captives atop a mid-town building at midday.”

If you’re a zealous Portuguese missionary, feel free use torture on the natives of Goa who were practicing Hindus to ensure their Christian upbringing.

“If you're a Muslim, rejoice as you behead the infidel and Jew who refuse to submit to Allah.”

The Idumaens were forced to convert to Judaism, either by threats of exile or death.

“If you're a Nuginian, it's okay to hunt down opponents and consume the various parts of them to gain in their superlative abilities.

In the Massacre of Verden (782), Charlemagne had 4,500 captive Saxons massacred upon rebelling against conversion.

“Hindi are welcome to cast widows onto the funeral pyre.”

The “Stolen Generations” were the children of Australian Aboriginals descent removed from their families by the Australian governmental agencies and church missions for conversion.

“Even devotees of Santeria should round up stray dogs and cats to offer blood sacrifice.”

The children of Great Plains tribes were immersed in European-American culture through appearance changes with haircuts, forbidden to speak their native languages, and instilled with harsh discipline to eradicate the last vestiges of “camp life”.

ALL religious groups have in some way, shape, or form acted “barbaric”. Such is the nature of human beings and sin.

"Did you miss the part about this being a republic for a moral people?"

Were slaveholders or northern industrialists who implemented wage slavery a "moral people"?

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